The last will and testament of the Catholic poet and translator, Sir Thomas Hawkins the younger, which I transcribed in the previous post, includes references to a number of members of his family. Notable by their absence from the will (probably for the same pragmatic reasons as their omission from their father’s will of 1617) are Thomas’ brother Henry, the Jesuit priest, and his sister Bennet or Benedict, a nun in Belgium, both of whom were still living. Another significant absence is Sir Thomas’ brother John, the physician and author, and it seems likely that he predeceased him.

Thomas Hawkins appoints another sibling, his ‘wellbeloved brother’ Richard Hawkins, as sole executor of his will. It was Richard who married Mary Langworth, daughter of Dr John Langworth, with whom we began this exploration of connected recusant families. I believe that Thomas’ nephew Charles and his niece Katharine, both mentioned in the will, were the children of Richard and Mary. We’ll return to them in another post.

Panel of the Hawkins monument in Boughton church, showing Sir Thomas the younger and his brothers

Thomas makes bequests to his cousins Ann and William Pettit. These were members of his late mother’s family; as mentioned in previous posts, the Pettits were another known recusant family, also resident in Boughton under Blean. The will also includes a reference to ‘Ann Breadstreet my Aunts daughter’. The will of Sir Thomas Hawkins the elder had mentioned his cousin Ann Breadstreet or Bradstreet, and also Christopher Bradstreet, who may have been her husband.

Thomas leaves money to ‘my sister Finch’: this is Susan or Susanna Hawkins who married John Finch of Grovehurst, at Milton near Sittingbourne. They were the parents of Thomas’ nephew Clement Finch of Grovehurst, appointed as one of the overseers of the will. ‘My sister Hildesley’ is Ann Hawkins, the husband of ‘my loving brother William Hildesley’ of Little Stoke, Oxfordshire, also named as an overseer. I’ll discuss the Finches and Hildesleys, both of them well-known recusant families, in future posts.

I haven’t been able to find out anything further about the person Thomas Hawkins describes as ‘John Rookes my kinseman’. As for ‘my god sonne Thomas Crompton’, it’s possible he was a relative (son?) of Sir Thomas Crompton, the Member of Parliament and government officer, a number of whose family were said to be Catholic.

Pra del Valle in Padua by Canaletto (via wikimedia)

Thomas Hawkins makes a substantial bequest in his will to ‘my lovinge nephew John Kirton doctor of phisicke’. I’ve been unable to discover John Kirton’s precise connection to the Hawkins family. Given his surname, he might have been the son of one of Thomas’ sisters, but I haven’t found any trace of another surviving sister who might have married a man with the surname Kirton. Alternatively, John might have been related to Thomas Hawkins via his wife Elizabeth Smith: perhaps another Smith sister married a Kirton?

Interestingly, John Kirton seems to have studied medicine in Padua, Italy, and then to have been ‘incorporated’ at Oxford in 1633. There is a suggestion that Thomas Hawkins’ younger brother John, who was also a physician, followed a similar path, perhaps because completing his degree at Oxford would have meant taking the Oath of Allegiance. It appears that Padua was popular among Catholic students as an alternative to Oxford and Cambridge, partly for this reason. However, as Jonathan Woolfson explain in his book on English students at Padua in the Tudor period, there were other reasons for the city’s appeal: both Catholics and Protestants were drawn there because of its long tradition of welcoming foreign students, its reputation as a centre for humanist learning, and the fact that it existed outside the control of any civic or religious authority.

Probable likeness of Sir Robert Dudley, c. 1591 (via wikipedia)

John Kirton appears to have a had long association with Italy. He was physician to the explorer and cartographer Sir Robert Dudley, whom he assisted in his chemical experiments in Tuscany. After a colourful maritime career, Dudley had abandoned his family and left England in 1605 with his cousin and lover Elizabeth Southwell, who was disguised as a page. The couple declared that they had converted to Catholicism and Dudley married Elizabeth in Lyon in 1606, after receiving a papal dispensation, and then settled in Florence. Apparently John Kirton was still living in Florence in 1673, at the age of 70.

I’m not sure of the exact identity of the man whom Thomas Hawkins describes as ‘my deare friend Mr Thomas Chester’. He might be the Thomas Chester of Almondsbury, Gloucestershire, the Royalist, described in one source as ‘an old Cavalier’, who was fined and had his property sequestered during the Civil War for ‘having adhered to the Forces raised against the Parliament’.

In the previous post I wrote about the recusant poet and translator Sir Thomas Hawkins the younger of Nash Court, Boughton under Blean, Kent, who died in 1640. In this post I’m sharing my transcription of his will, and in the next post I’ll discuss what we can learn from it about Hawkins’ family and associates. (I’ve highlighted key names on their first appearance.)

In the name of God Amen the nyne and twentieth day of october one thousand sixe hundred thirty nyne And in the fyfteenth yeare of the Reygne of our most gracious Sovereigne Lord Kinge Charles of England I Sr Thomas Hawkins of Nash in the parish of Boughton under the Bleane in the County of Kent knight beinge not well in health but yet of perfect mynd & memorie for which I doe give most humble thanks to Almighty God) And well considering of the uncerteynty of mans life and especially to free my selfe in my last sickness from all worldly care that then I may bee wholly attentive to the good of my soule, do therefore make and ordayne this my last will and testamt in manner followeing & first I bequeath my soule into the hands of Allmighty God my Creator redeemer and sanctifier and my bodie to bee decently buried in the parish church of Boughton aforesd and neere as may bee to the burial places of the bodies of Sr Thomas Hawkins knight and dame Ann his wife my deceased deare & ever honord parents which I leave to the discretion of my executr hereafter named Imprimis I give to the poore people of the sayd parish of Boughton eight pounds in money to bee distributed amongst them ymmediately after my death at the discretion of myne executor. Item I give to the poore people of the parish of Heurnehill in the sayd countie three pounds to bee likewise distributed Item I hgive to the poore of the parish of Sr Sepulchre in London fower pounds Item I give & devise to my lovinge nephew John Kirton doctor of phisicke all those eleven closes bee the same more or lesse or severall grounds in closes of agrable [?] lands medows & pasture ground conteyninge together in the whole by estimacon one hundred and tenne acres or thereabouts situate lyeing or beinge within the severall parishes of Boughton under the bleane aforesd and Feaversham and Heurnehill or some or one of them in the countie of Kent three of which closes before menconed or more now are or late weare commonly called or known by the name of Knockemors and the residue of the same nowe are or late weare called or knowen by the severall names of Hockleton Hashfeild Bendleffeild the fower neare ould Bouldsy mead longe mead water mead and lillydowne meadowe or by what other name or names the same or any of them are otherwise called or knowen by with all the proffitts commodities and appurtenances to the sayd severall closes or enclosed grounds belonginge or appurtenayng unto the sayd John Kirton his Executors and assignes ymedtiatly from after my decease for the tearme of three score years thence next ensewinge upon condicon followeing, vizt Provided allwayes and my full intended meaning is that If my wellbeloved brother Richard Hawkins or his heirs shall within sixe months next after my decease pay unto the sayd John Kirton or to his Executor or Assignes the some of three hundred pounds of lawfull money of England Then and in such case my sayd wish[?] and desire of the sayd closes lands and tenemets unto the sayd John Kirton his Exeuctors and assignes shall cause determine and bee payd and that then my will and meaning is that the same closes lands and tenemets shall remayne and bee and I doe hereby devise bequeath and appoynt the same unto my sayd brother Richard Hawkins his heirs and assignes forever for the better performance of this my last will and testament. I give and bequeath to my neece Katherine Hawkins my diamond ringe of fower stones and a scarfe [?] Item I give and bequeath to Ann Breadstreet my Aunts daughter the yearely some of fifty two shillings & p Annm to bee weekly paid new [?] by twelve pence a weeke during her natural life Item I give and bequeath to my ould servant John Kennett fower pounds yearly and everie yeare duringe his natural life to bee yssueinge out of certeyne closes or grounds called the blacke marshes Johnson Croft and Crearneffeild [?] lyeinge in the parishes of Boughton and Seasalter or some of them in the sayd countie of Kent to bee payd at the twoe usuall feast dayes vizt the annuntiacon of the blessed virgin Marie And St Michaell th’archangell by twoe equall porcons the first payment thereof to begin at the first of the sayd feast dayes as shall next happen And ensewe After my death If the sayd John Kennett bee then living and for non payment thereof by the space of twentie dayes next after either of the sayd dayes of payment it shall be lawfull for the say(d) John Kennett or his assignes to enter into the sayd closes and grounds last menconed and to dystreyne for the same and to deteyne such dystresses as shall bee taken untill the sayd yearely payment of such part thereof as shall bee then due and all the arrearages thereof any bee shall be fully satisfied and payd Item I give unto John Rookes [?] my kinseman twentie pounds and to my cosen Ann Pettitt three pounds Item I give unto my nephew John Hawkins all my books in my studdy at London And at my house at Nash except the bookes hereafter particularly given Item I give unto my nephew Charles Hawkins all my musicke Bookes at London And at my house at Nash together with my viols Item I give unto my nephew Charles Hawkins my sister Finch five pounds to be bestowed in a peece of plate And to my sister Hildesley five poundes to be bestowed in a peece of plate Item I give twenty shillings a peece to each of my sister Finches children And to each of my syster Hildesleys children Item I give my mercator booke of mapps to my deare friend Mr Thomas Chester Item I give to everie one of my servants that shall bee dwelling with mee at the tyme of my death the sayd John Kennett excepted to each of them yxt [?] a peece over and above their wages I give to my cosen William Pettitt twentie shillings to bee bestowed in a ringe Item I give to my god sonne Thomas Crompton Item I give to William Blayne And his wife duringe their natural lives and the life of the longer liver of them three pounds yearely and everie yeare to bee yssueinge out of the foresaid chloses and grounds called the black marshes Johnsons Croft and bearnefields to bee payd at such dayes and with power to dystreyne for non payment of the same in such manner as is before limitted and appointed to and for John Kennett as aforesaid And I doe heerby make and ordayne my sayd wellbeloved brother Richard Hawkins sole executor of this my last will and testament desireinge him out of his love and affection to mee to see all things fully performed according to my will intent and meaning herein expressed. And I doe heerby revoke all former wills by mee heretofore made And I doe heerby make and desier my loving brother William Hildesley of Littlestocke in the county of Oxford Esquier and Clemment Finch of Grovehurst in the countie of Kent my nephew to bee overseers hereof and I doe give to either of them fourtie shillings in witness whereof I have to this my last will and testament beinge fower sheets to everie one of the same sheets subscribed my name And to the last sheete hereof have putt my seale the day and yere [?] first above written Thomas Hawkins Sealed subscribed and published by the sayd Sr Thomas Hawkins as his last will and testament in the presence of us William Forrest William Linsey John Ruck [?] John Comberford